The EllGab Garden

[Rikki Gins]

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The blue super moon of a couple nights ago.  So named not for its color, but for the fact that it was a second full moon within one month.  Mine looks a bit yellow and I noticed additional pics online that had a similar shade of color.  Oh well, that's what I get for not using a real camera.  But, it will have to do, as the next blue super moon won't happen until 2037.

[Peter Wyngarde]

Spot on about the taste of garden tomatoes, WAN.  I've got heavy clay soil here at EllGab Garden West, so I grow about a half dozen tomato plants in pots with regular potting soil that you can buy by the bag at local garden centers.  One thing I've learned about growing them in pots, it's best to use the smaller cherry tomato plants.  You can get a good crop of those, but the larger varieties don't produce as much when in pots. I still grow some of them but only get one to three tomatoes per pot.  Still, it's fun to see the big ones growing in them.  One can use those wire cages for support as they will fit right inside the pots.

Corn: Knee high, by the Fourth of July.

What on earth are you doing? Are you remembering to pinch out the leaves so that they grow upwards on the cane like a vine rather than outwards? And how big are the pots you're using? You don't have to use pots either, you can just get a couple of growbags and do it like that. You can usually get three in one bag.  And remember when you're watering them, make sure (once a week) you add a specialist tomato supplement that gives them extra nutrients. Tomatoes are usually fairly easy to grow and you ought to have more than you know what to do with. When I grew them, I had to grow them in a greenhouse because the weather was so unpredictable, but it's probably not such a problem for you so I can't see why you aren't getting much of a crop.

[Rikki Gins]

What on earth are you doing? Are you remembering to pinch out the leaves so that they grow upwards on the cane like a vine rather than outwards? And how big are the pots you're using? You don't have to use pots either, you can just get a couple of growbags and do it like that. You can usually get three in one bag.  And remember when you're watering them, make sure (once a week) you add a specialist tomato supplement that gives them extra nutrients. Tomatoes are usually fairly easy to grow and you ought to have more than you know what to do with. When I grew them, I had to grow them in a greenhouse because the weather was so unpredictable, but it's probably not such a problem for you so I can't see why you aren't getting much of a crop.

You make some very good points regarding the growing of tomatoes in pots, Peter.  My only excuse for such a poor crop is that the pots were placed in spots to receive maximum sunlight and this in itself, much to my chagrin, was the problem.  We received extra hot weather this summer and sun scald was a major problem.  At the start of the season, the blossoms were plentiful and I did receive a good early crop, but then the days grew hot and the tomatoes' blossoms were somewhat minimal.   I use a top notch (and rather expensive) potting soil that is designed to release nutrients to the plants as time goes by.  Sure enough, the tomatoes continue to grow but not on a large scale.  What few remain are easy prey to rats, racoons and possums.  I think you hit on the solution though by mentioning green houses.  I just might go that route in the next year or two.  Oddly enough, the aforementioned critters don't seem to be interested in pepper plants.  I've been having a bumper crop of them thus far.

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[Peter Wyngarde]

You make some very good points regarding the growing of tomatoes in pots, Peter.  My only excuse for such a poor crop is that the pots were placed in spots to receive maximum sunlight and this in itself, much to my chagrin, was the problem.  We received extra hot weather this summer and sun scald was a major problem.  At the start of the season, the blossoms were plentiful and I did receive a good early crop, but then the days grew hot and the tomatoes' blossoms were somewhat minimal.   I use a top notch (and rather expensive) potting soil that is designed to release nutrients to the plants as time goes by.  Sure enough, the tomatoes continue to grow but not on a large scale.  What few remain are easy prey to rats, racoons and possums.  I think you hit on the solution though by mentioning green houses.  I just might go that route in the next year or two.  Oddly enough, the aforementioned critters don't seem to be interested in pepper plants.  I've been having a bumper crop of them thus far.

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If you use a greenhouse and the weather is very hot again it would make it even worse because you'd just be magnifying the problem. I'd try and find somewhere a bit less exposed to the sun next time. Excessive sunshine isn't a problem we face in these here parts but there's probably some way to counter it. Maybe a strip black translucent plastic over the top of them to mitigate the worst effects.

Here's a few ideas for next time:

https://www.tomatodirt.com/tomato-sunscald.html

[Rikki Gins]

If you use a greenhouse and the weather is very hot again it would make it even worse because you'd just be magnifying the problem. I'd try and find somewhere a bit less exposed to the sun next time. Excessive sunshine isn't a problem we face in these here parts but there's probably some way to counter it. Maybe a strip black translucent plastic over the top of them to mitigate the worst effects.

Here's a few ideas for next time:

https://www.tomatodirt.com/tomato-sunscald.html

Very good advice there, Peter.  Thanks!

[Walks_At_Night]

If you use a greenhouse and the weather is very hot again it would make it even worse because you'd just be magnifying the problem. I'd try and find somewhere a bit less exposed to the sun next time. Excessive sunshine isn't a problem we face in these here parts but there's probably some way to counter it. Maybe a strip black translucent plastic over the top of them to mitigate the worst effects.

Here's a few ideas for next time:

https://www.tomatodirt.com/tomato-sunscald.html

Yeah the greenhouse probably won't help much during the summer. I put one up this summer and it is incredible how hot it gets in there during the day. Unless you get Cambodia Jungle Tomatoes or something they'll croak. Should be just the thing for getting the seedlings going early and growing some stuff over the winter. 

[Rikki Gins]

Yeah the greenhouse probably won't help much during the summer. I put one up this summer and it is incredible how hot it gets in there during the day. Unless you get Cambodia Jungle Tomatoes or something they'll croak. Should be just the thing for getting the seedlings going early and growing some stuff over the winter.

Right, JUAN.  I do have a small structure that can be covered with a clear sheet of some type of plastic stuff.  Good for starting seeds, etc.  For some reason I thought that greenhouse glass didn't magnify the sun's heat.  I guess not.

[Rikki Gins]

Ooops, sorry @Walks_At_Night.  I wasn't paying attention at such an early hour.  Thought you were JUAN.

[JUAN]

Well, to answer - I have trouble with tomatoes because it gets too hot here.  Tomato blooms won't set.

[Peter Wyngarde]

Well, to answer - I have trouble with tomatoes because it gets too hot here.  Tomato blooms won't set.

Is it a problem for everyone or is it just something you have trouble with? I thought tomatoes grew pretty much anywhere, no matter how hot it was as long as you remembered to water them. It's that early stage when the plants are young and tender that's the problem, when they get a bit older I think they should be OK. Over here, it isn't the heat that I have to worry about early on, it's the slugs and snails, although they don't bother the tomatoes but they try to eat pretty much everything else. Bastards!

[JUAN]

Other people have less trouble than I do, but the heat can be trouble for everyone.  This year, we had a cool spring then suddenly temperatures were in the mid 90s F.  There seem to be a few varieties that grow better here than others.

[Peter Wyngarde]

Other people have less trouble than I do, but the heat can be trouble for everyone.  This year, we had a cool spring then suddenly temperatures were in the mid 90s F.  There seem to be a few varieties that grow better here than others.

I think you're in Florida, aren't you? Generally speaking, though, it's much easier to grow things over there, you just stick them in the ground and up they go as long as you remember to water them. You could probably grow decent melons in that sort of climate, I imagine. It's a waste of time trying something like that over here.

[JUAN]

Things grow, but the soil is Sandy and drains quickly carrying nutrients away. I’m near the ocean so the air is salty, too.  I knew nothing about gardening until a few years ago. I thought you planted in the spring, stuff grew, and you harvested in the fall.  Not here.  There is very little that will grow through the heat of summer without extensive watering.  Here it’s more plant in September and harvest in December - plant in February and harvest in May.

[Walks_At_Night]

I think you're in Florida, aren't you? Generally speaking, though, it's much easier to grow things over there, you just stick them in the ground and up they go as long as you remember to water them. You could probably grow decent melons in that sort of climate, I imagine. It's a waste of time trying something like that over here.

Melons seem to do pretty good. yes.

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Can buy them right of the back of some guys truck

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[Rikki Gins]

While on the subject of tomatoes, here is one from this season.  It's even got a sprinkling of forest fire ash for added flavor.

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